What is direct democracy?

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Direct democracy is where the citizens directly influence the decisions of the government.

This is compared to indirect democracy (which is what the US has) where the people elect representatives who represent their interests in the decisions of goverment.Direct democracy is a form of democracy. This form is people decide
policy initiatives directly.

In a direct democracy , every single member of the group hasan equal say in every single decision. This is not workable on aday to day basis for large groups. In a representativedemocracy , people elect representatives , who vote on theissues. Representative democracy is the basis of constitutionaldemocracy . Representatives are chosen by the people toact in their best interest, not necessarily to vote the way thepeople want them to in every circumstance. Direct democracy is verydifficult to maintain when a population becomes too large. Some societies operate with a combination of both types ofdemocracy. For example, in some countries, such as France,Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland, some issues, for example,changes to the constitution, can be decided by a popular vote onthat specific issue. In some of the small Swiss cantons (states)such as Glarus, all citizens are entitled to attend an annualmeeting which votes retrospectively on the laws passed during thepreceding year by their representatives. and also credit to theperson who last posted this

Answer 1 As far as I know and although it has been heavily argued,Switzerland is the only country practicing direct democracy atalmost all levels of decision making and officials' election. Manycountries in the world will use direct democracy but in most casesthat is restricted to referendums, at the contrary of Switzerlandwhere any citizen or group of citizens may challenge any law at anytime, provided they can gather a certain number of signatures. Answer 2 The country with (an almost perfect) direct democracy isSwitzerland (5 million voters), the voters decide on nationalreferendums and initiatives 2-4 times a year. In the USA (the federal government is an example of an indirectdemocracy) the State of California (20 million voters) is anexample of direct democracy another example are the town meetingsin some of the New England States (e.g. Vermont) which are heldabout once a year to decide local issues. Answer 3 Ancient Athens, any country that uses referendums practices directdemocracy

It's not..
Democracy is a system of government owned and controlled by the will of the majority of the governed. The will of the people of a democracy would be the supreme law of their land. Unless the people officially choose to endow "representatives" with their rightful power to choose their destiny, any true democracy would necessarily be a direct democracy, because the true will of the majority of the people could only be acertained from a publicly owned, votable forum system capable of perpetually establishing truth about every issue, gradually and peacefully, in real time..
There has never been a full-fledged democracy on Earth, for two main reasons. First, humanity only recently developed the computative, interactive and connective technology to define the true will of a population, a task that couldn't be done by horseback. And secondly, the small group (now the CFR) who enjoyed wielding Our power for generations has made a science of convincing us that We hold the power, in order to prevent losing their illegal reign over us and all we produce and own. But, it's obvious to all that our majority never voted for our current conditions of corrupt government, perpetual war, war profiteering, hunger, starvation, officially acceptable genocide, widening cultural divides, ever-widening gap between the rich and poor or ecological devastation of proportions that now threaten our extinction ~ myseries that none of us ever wanted ~ that could only benefit a psychologically unstable few..
Countries which have been deceptively mislabeled as democracies by that tiny minority have equally tiny "degrees" or "aspects" of democracy: the vote. Some call them demockery, because they make a mockery of the very concept of democracy. It's a generational global deception of enormous magnitude. Having ballot boxes does not make a country a democracy. And, negative reality is a natural product of demockery..
Direct democracy would be a political system which is owned and "directly" controlled by those it governs. Those affected by and/or with special knowledge of a particular public issue would raise the issue, then participate in the formulation of the most popular solution to that issue. Since the vast majority of people want peace and prosperity, that is what a direct democracy would produce..
"Representative democracy" is a either just a deceptive misnomer or the name of a form of government yet to exist. America is a representative republic: Not a democracy by definition, as you were taught in public school..
So, a representative democracy would require that each representative have a local votable forum system in which only his or her constituents could participate.

Direct democracy is the governing of a people BY the people. Allmembers of a group, rather than representatives, meet to makedecisions, observing political equality and majority rule. An example of direct or participatory democracy would be a townmeeting. Most towns allow the members of the town to participate inthe meetings, which include voting on specific issues. Thesemeetings allow a community to make decisions together.

Advantages.
1. everyone gets a fair trial if commited of crime.
2. all people are equal befor the law.
Disadvantages.
1. people who vote for the sake of it that are not informed of what they are doing can be contributing to the wrong government.
2. donkey votes which do not count ruin everything

Voters are aware every year or so that they can participate in the election of representatives for the purpose of making laws for the country (state, county, city, town, etc.). In spite of this voter input, the elected representatives never seem to use their power for the benefit of the voters and instead use their power to benefit the rich and powerful who provided the campaign financing needed to get the representatives elected. Wouldn't it be great if the voters could elect specific laws rather than representatives? Well, this is what a referendum does and how it relates to direct democracy. Instead of voting for representatives who then vote for specific laws (or in reality don't vote for laws wanted by the voters), the voters vote directly for laws they want to have enacted. In California, referendums (or to be correct, "referenda") are on a statewide basis and cost interested persons perhaps $100,000,000 to obtain enactment by vote at a state-wide election. In New York State, the New York Constitution permits a referendum to be held by voters at any level of government lower than the state-wide level. This means that in xxxxx, N.Y. (a town of 3,333 residents and 2,000 registered voters, with only 1,200 showing up to vote in a typical election), a total of 601 registered voters can pass a local statute such as requiring the mayor and town to post on a website for all to see a summary of every payment made by the town, including the name/address of the payee, the date of payment, the purpose and work done for the payment, who authorized the payment, whether the payment was made pursuant to a contract that had open bidding - etc. Or, the voters (601 or more) could enact a local statute requiring the town to renounce its right to condemn local property for a non-public use (and to file a deed to such effect), thereby preventing the rich and powerful from condemning (seizing) local land to build another Wal-Mart or Home Depot shopping center. For 29 different petitions (for referendums) being offered in NYC on a wholly non-profit, bi-partisan basis by the writer of this Answer, please look at www.lawmall.com/nycballotinitiatives.php A list of these 29 ballot initiatives (or referenda) follows: .
Congestion Pricing Is Made Illegal .
Arrested Demonstrators Get Affidavits or the Arresting Officer Loses His/Her Job .
NYC Jobs Open to Older Applicants of Any Age - Test: Ability to Perform .
No Sidewalk Trash Tickets without Notice and 2 Color Photographs Spaced 24 Hours Apart .
No NYC Subsidies to Buy or Retain Jobs in NYC .
Permits Smoking in Designated Areas (up to 25% of Customer Space) in NYC Bars, Restaurants .
Board of Elections to Create Email List of Voters for Use only by BOE and Election Candidates .
NYC Police Precincts Will Receive Computer Donations and Give to Local Children Living in Computerless Homes .
Department of Consumer Affairs to Accept Junk-Fax and Pop-Up Complaints and Bring Suit If Necessary .
Prohibits Discriminatory Pricing - All Candidates and Parties to Receive the Same Price for Campaign Advertising .
Drivers of Vehicles Permitted to Make Right Turn on Red Light (If Safe to Do So) .
City Council of NYC Is to Create Single Email Address for Voters to Reach All 51 Council Members .
NYC Businesses Report Potholes and Sidewalk Defects and Get Paid to Repair If NYC Fails to Repair .
GPS and E-Z Pass Speeding Tickets Prohibited .
3 Times as Many Points before NYC May Revoke or Suspend a Taxicab Driver's License .
Elect All Members of 59 Community Boards in NYC .
Non-Public Eminent Domain by NYC Prohibited .
No Licensing or Insurance as Condition to Exercise First Amendment Rights in NYC .
Creation of New York City Attorney General to Enforce Constitutional Rights of NYC Citizens, Residents, Workers, Homeowners and Small Businesses at Public Expense .
150,000 New Parking Spaces by Reducing Hydrant No-Parking Zone to 3 Feet and Reducing Single-Car Parking-Meter Space to 16 Feet .
Personally-Directed Proceedings Against 55 or Older NYC Resident Require Naming NYC Attorney General as Interested Person .
9/11 Testimony Required of 9/11 Witnesses and All Reprisals Are Illegal - with Action to Terminate Official's Employment if Reprisal .
NYC Statute to Provide 100% Campaign Financing for Candidates before NYC Voters .
Top 100 Retailers Required to Make Representations and Warranties to Open New Stores - Lawsuit Standing for Injured Competitors, Employees and Others .
Continuous Auction of Unused NYC Real Estate .
City Council of NYC Required to Disclose All Contacts to Influence Its Actions .
NYC Website for Homeowners Subject to ARM Mortgage Foreclosures .
NYC Website to Promote Rate and Fee Competition among NYC Banks and Credit Card Issuers .
100% Payout Slot Machines for NYC Retail Stores with Fees Supporting Local Senior, Pre-Natal and After-School Programs

Most of the democracies are indirect or representative democracies,because citizens elect representatives who then go to the parliament and represent them and their interests. In a direct democracy every citizen who has the right to vote goes to the parliament and takes part in the law-making process personally. One of the example for the latter one can be the ancient Athens where citizens (free male Athenian citizens over 20) had the right to take part in the Assembly.

It is a representative democracy. In a direct democracy, citizens vote directly on issues concerning the community, while in a representative democracy, the citizens vote on people to represent them in making the decisions.

A direct democracy is a govt. where the people have a direct say on what goes on. Athens, Greece in the old times is a prime example of this. Many other Greek city-sates were also like this. It is kind of like the New English Town meetings in the north. WHere the whole town comes to gether to discuss and vote on different issues..
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A republic is a form of government where a group of officials who represent the people vote on issues, whereas a direct democracy is a form of government where all citizens directly vote on issues. In a repulic, people ellect representatives to do the governing. In a direct democracy, people vote themselves on all of the bills. Their is not legislative branch in a direct democracy.In a direct democracy the whole population votes on issues. In a republic, people elect representatives who vote on issues for them, and there is an elected president rather than a monarch.

Democracy is a political government carried out either directly by the people or by means of elected representatives of the people. Athenian democracy was developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 500 BC wich was one of the very first known democracies.

While a direct democracy may sound well and good, there are several problems. First, important decisions that need to be made quickly are bogged down when collecting votes; unless there is a fast-acting legislative body or executive power, issues such as national defense can be severely hampered by waiting for votes on an issue. Second, the general public is often uneducated and unfamiliar with political decisions and their aftermath; having a direct democracy would be like having everyone fix their own pipes, rather than just paying a plumber. Third, the creation of legislation would be infeasible; how can you have an entire nation write a bill? Fourth, requiring citizens to vote on day-to-day decisions and administrative actions would take up too much time; and, those who were more politically active or had more time on their hands would have more say than those who either didn't frequently vote on issues or were too busy to bother.

A direct democracy is one in which the citizens actively vote for every law, every change, etc. Of course, the United States is a democratic republic, meaning that it's citizens vote for representatives who in turn vote to change existing laws and create new ones. An example of a direct democracy would be hard to find, though one could argue that Switzerland is one in a way, as its citizens vote to change laws and have more power than representatives do at the canton and many times national level.

One of the major concerns and experiences of the Founders was that of rule by the mob. During the early to mid-1700's, England was rocked by large riots and mob rule. The Founders were very concerned that direct democracy could easily lead to anarchy and rule by mobs. As a result, they established our system of indirect democracy and our bicameral legislative structure. Moreover, prior to the enactment of the 17th Amendment, Senators were selected by the state legislatures - not popular vote. Again, this was to blunt the impact of the mob on our indirect democracy.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of direct democracy? â¢ Purest form of democracy rather than having someone interpreting your views. â¢ May influence more people to get involved in politics. â¢ Prevents cynicism about govt. â¢ However, it is impractical. â¢ Minorities would have no say. â¢ Potential to leave decision-making in hands of those least equipped to do so.

In Direct Democracy, the people vote on every issue. In Representative Democracy, the people vote for representatives, who then vote on every issue. Nearly all democracies are representative. Although this means representatives may not always represent the will of the people, the problem with asking the public to vote on every issue is that they probably wouldn't bother. Forms of direct democracy you often see are referendums (when the government asks people to vote on an issue). Also, two cantons of Switzerland have an "Open Parliament" every year, where people are invited to discuss and vote on issues. Both also have a conventional elected assembly.

in ancient Greece all free men were citizens , women and slaves were excluded. The law of double descent applied - you had to have an Athenian mother and father to be a citizen; foreigners were definitely excluded. Citizens would take part in the Democratic process. Of 30,000 citizens in the 5th century perhaps 5,000might regularly attend one or more meetings of the popular Assembly of which were at least 40 per year in Aristotle's day. 6,000 citizens were selected to fill the annual panel of potential jurymen who staff the popular jury courts, a jury usually was a typical size of 501. Participation's direct and in your face, there were no representatives. Decisions were taken in meetings and posts filled by rotation e.g. judges with officials and jurymen selected by drawing lots, this was seen as more democratic than elections which would favour the rich, famous and powerful. Unpopular politicians were ostracised or sent away for 10 years. Hope this was helpful.

direct democracy is each person's decision directly affects the outcome of a vote. Representative democracy is the citizens elect officials to represent them in the government. These elected officials then meet to make the country's laws and to enforce them.

A direct democracy means that every single citizen would attend allmeetings to make the laws and run the government. There is no waythat a big nation would be able to have its millions of citizens inone location and accomplish anything.

Communism is a concept of creating a world where everyone is equal to each other without any sort of discrimination or division. On the other hand Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of government in which people collectively make decisions for themselves, rather than having their political affairs decided by representatives. Thus, a pure democratic government will lead to the achievement of communism and vice-verse. The greedy actions of various representatives of communism has lead the present generation misinterpret those values .Some works of O.V. Vijayan an Indian author and cartoonist, who was an important figure in modern Malayalam literature clearly states that no leaders has been able to make a pure communist state,yet. At present the inefficient and overambitious acts of various individuals lead the people to disbelieve in democracy. Understanding the true nature of both communism and pure democracy call for the rise of new ideals which has the good part of both these values and this will lead to the ultimate victory of justice.

The citizens (adult males) met in fortnightly assemble and gavedirections which were implemented by the council between meetings.This is different from today's representative democracy wherepersons are elected to a parliament where they vote on issues,supposedly in the way their electors want, but in reality the waytheir political party wants.

You may be wondering exactly what Direct Democracy is and how it works. Direct Democracy is a form of government that is said to be by the people, but also for the people. It is a type of government that the people will make the decisions for themselves rather than to have the decisions made by representatives. Another term used to describe Direct Democracy is pure democracy or "true" democracy.

The only benefit of it is that the majority always rules. The problem with that system is that if a would be tyrant were able to convince the majority of something he would then rule based solely on a popular vote. That is why we in the United States have a democratic form of government but are actually a republic.

The US has a representative democracy because, at the time the Constitution was framed, it was impracticable to have a direct democracy. Additionally, the Founding Fathers were generally skeptical of democracies (since they understood it differently than we did) and feared the tyranny of the majority. They believed a representative democracy would temper the passions of the masses.

For some democratic theorists, direct democracy is ideal since, if democracy is understood to be a mode by which a popular will expresses and controls the government it lives in, then a more direct democracy should better express the people by giving them direct control.

Direct democracy is difficult because there are so many people involved. If you had a group of, let us say, a dozen people, it would be relatively easy for them to express their opinions about any topic and come to a decision (juries do this). If you need to consult millions, or hundreds of millions of people, it becomes a lot harder.

They are both democracies and types of governments. Direct democracy is basically a way for the people to vote for what happens in the country or society. Representative is similar by being a democracy but instead of the people voting there is a person elected to speak for the group of people.

Direct democracy can be impractical if a population is too large.Typically, direct democracy works best when the population issmaller because in a large population it is more difficult to cometo a consensus. There is also the argument that citizen-legislatorsare not well versed in law-crafting and may create a bad law with abad outcome and unintended consequences.